Gene Patenting — The Supreme Court Finally Speaks
Cet article analyse les conséquences d'une récente décision de la Cour Suprême américaine en matière de brevetabilité des gènes
Are human genes patentable? On June 13, the Supreme Court gave its long-awaited answer — a unanimous “no.” The case, Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, 1 has generated enormous interest among medical institutions, industry organizations, patient advocacy groups, and scientists. “ Life's instructions,” James Watson asserted in one of 49 amicus curiae briefs, “ought not be controlled by legal monopolies created at the whim of Congress or the courts.” For some, the gene patents were symbols of a shrinking public domain and an overreaching patent system that traded too much monopolistic power for too little innovation. For others, the challenge to the patented genes amounted to an attack on the intellectual-property protections that fuel private investment in biomedical discovery...
New England Journal of Medicine , article en libre accès, 2012